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iPhone grabs TV advertising bucks

The iPhone is now competing for advertising dollars normally allocated to TV shows, according to analytics firm Flurry.

Flurry believes the iPhone’s always-on characteristics is making the device more attractive to advertisers than regular TV shows, because consumers spend as much time using applications as they do watching prime time TV programs.

It estimates that an average audience of 19 million spends at least 22 minutes per day using social games on their iPhone, iPad and iPod touch devices, putting the games on-par with time spent watching prime time TV shows including NBC’s Sunday Night Football and Dancing with the Stars on ABC.

The figure is only four million shy of leading US program American Idol, Flurry said.

“Compared to a top television series, which airs 22 episodes a season, advertisers can reach a larger consumer audience through applications 15 times more frequently,” marketing vice president Peter Farago explained in a company blog.

The firm notes that advertising spend for US soaps fell 30% in 2009, and a further 20% in 1H10.